proceeded peremptorily as he might,' he would not have left two in any one of them; and here it was not a peer or a magistrate that Jewel feared, but one higher than both, for the Colleges appealed to the Queen against him; and Jewel could but entreat Cecil with many anxious misgivings to stand by him. He could but protest humbly that he was only acting for God's glory.1

The Bishop of Winchester found his people 'obstinately grovelled in superstition and Popery, lacking not priests to inculcate the same daily in their heads;' and himself so unable to provide ministers to teach them, that he petitioned for permission to unite his parishes and throw two or three into one. 2

The Bishop of Durham called a clergyman before him to take the oath. The clergyman said out before a crowd, 'who much rejoiced at his doings,' 'that neither temporal man nor woman could have power in spiritual matters but only the Pope of Rome;' and the lay authorities would not allow the Bishop to punish a man who had but expressed their own feelings; more than one member of the Council of York had refused the oath and yet had remained in office; the rest took courage when they saw those that refused their allegiance 'not only unpunished but had in authority and estimation;' and distracted with the poisonful and malicious minds about him,' the Bishop said that 'where he had but little wit at his coming he had now almost none left him, and wished himself a sizar at St John's again.'

3

1 Jewel to Cecil: Domestic MSS., vol. xix.

2 MS. Ibid., vol. xxi.

3 MS. Ibid., vol. xix.

Finally, in 1562, the Bishop of Carlisle once more complained that between Lord Dacres and the Earls of Cumberland and Westmoreland, 'God's glorious gospel could not take place in the counties under their rule.' The few Protestants 'durst not be known for fear of a shrewd turn;' and the lords and magistrates looked through their fingers-while the law was openly defied. The country was full of 'wishings and wagers for the alteration of religion;' 'rumours and tales of the Spaniards and Frenchmen to come in for the reformation of the same:' while the articles of the secret league between the Guises and Spain for the extirpation of heresy circulated in manuscript in the houses of the northern gentlemen.1

The Queen's own conduct had been so uncertain, she had persisted so long in her determination to invite the Queen of Scots into England, with a view of acknowledging her in some form or other as her successor, she had given so marked an evidence of her retrogressive tendencies in appointing these very Earls of Westmoreland and Cumberland to receive Mary Stuart on the Border, that no one ventured to support a spiritual authority which in a year or two might vanish like a mist. And it was not till Elizabeth had been driven at last into the French quarrel, had given up the interview, and had sent her troops to Havre to co-operate with the Huguenots, that the reforming party recovered heart again; and the Romanists discovered that unless

1 Domestic MSS., vol. xxi.

they were prepared for immediate rebellion they must move more cautiously.

The first effect of their disappointment was 1562. August. a curious one. On the 7th of August de Quadra wrote to the Spanish minister at Rome begging him to ask the Pope in the name of the English Catholics whether they might be present without sin at 'the common prayers.' 'The case,' de Quadra said, 'was a new and not an easy one, for the Prayer-book contained neither impiety nor false doctrine. The prayers themselves were those of the Catholic Church, altered only so far as to omit the merits and the intercession of the saints; so that, except for the concealment, and the injury which might arise from the example, there would be nothing in the compliance itself positively unlawful. The communion could be evaded: on that point they did not ask for a dispensation. They desired simply to be informed whether they might attend the ordinary services.' The Bishop's own opinion was that no general rule could be laid down. The compulsion to which the Catholics were exposed varied at different times and places; the harm which might arise to others varied; nor had all been equally zealous in attempting to prevent the law from passing or in afterwards obstructing the execution of it. While therefore he had not extenuated the fault of those who had given way to the persecution, he had in some cases given them a hope that they had not sinned mortally. At the same time he had been cautious of weakening the resolution of those who had been hitherto constant. If the Pope

had more decided instructions to give, he said he would gladly receive them. There was another class of cases also which there was a difficulty in dealing with. Many of the English who had fallen into heresy had repented and desired to be absolved. But the priests, who could receive them back, were scanty and scattered; and there was extreme danger in resorting to them. In some instances they had been arrested, and under threat of torture had revealed their penitents' names. The Bishop said he had explained to the Catholics generally that allowance was made for violence, but they wished for a general indulgence in place of detailed and special absolution; and although he said that he did not himself consider that this would meet the difficulty, he thought it right to mention their request.1

The question of attendance on the English service was referred to the Inquisition, where the dry truth was expressed more formally and hardly than de Quadra's leniency would have preferred.

'Given a commonwealth in which Catholics were forbidden under pain of death to exercise their religion; where the law required the subject to attend conventicles; where the Psalms were sung and the lessons taken from the Bible were read in the vulgar tongue, and where sermons were preached in defence of heretical opinions, might Catholics comply with that law without peril of damnation to their souls ?'

Jesuitism was as yet but half developed. The In

1 De Quadra to Vargas, August 7:MS. Simancas.

quisition answered immediately with a distinct negative.

Although the Catholics were not required to communicate with heretics, yet by their presence at their services they would assume and affect to believe with them. Their object in wishing to be present could only be to pass for heretics, to escape the penalties of disobedience; and God had said, 'Whosoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will I be ashamed.' Catholics, and especially Catholics of rank, could not appear in Protestant assemblies without causing scandal to the weaker brethren.

In giving this answer Pope Pius desired to force the Catholics to declare themselves, and precipitate the collision which Philip's timidity had prevented.

On the other point he was more lenient. He empowered de Quadra, as a person not amenable to the English Government, to accept himself the abjuration of heretics willing to forsake their errors, and to empower others at his discretion to do the same whenever and wherever he might think good.1

Before the order of Pius had reached England, the impatience of the Catholics had run over in the abortive conspiracy of the Poles. In itself most trivial, it served as a convenient instrument in the hands of Cecil to irritate the Protestants. The enterprise in France appealed to the loyalty of the people, who flattered themselves with hopes of Calais, and the elections for the Parliament, which was to meet at the spring of the new

1 Pius IV. to de Quadra: MS. Simancas.